Brčko to get waste management center in line with EU standards

The City of Brčko plans to build a waste management center that will enable closing down the nearby landfill, located on the Sava river bank, and ensure the implementation of European standards, according to representatives of the Brčko District government.

The waste management center is one of five projects in the Brčko District in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) financed by the World Bank as part of its Sava and Drina Rivers Corridors Integrated Development Program. Brčko was recently in the spotlight across the region over alleged plans to invest in lithium exploration, but the local authorities denied that any such project had been approved.

Brčko’s waste management center is expected to include a state-of-the-art center for waste disposal, which might be the first such facility in BiH, according to Željko Antić, who heads the team for negotiations on the World Bank’s loan for the project, Akta has reported.

Antić: Waste would be sorted, and there would be no waste incinerator or landfill

At the new center, waste would be sorted and there would be no waste incinerator or landfill, he said. Only 10-15% of that waste would be transported outside the Brčko District, while the rest would be used as fuel or recycled. That waste would also be marketable, according to him.

After a while, the center should operate with a profit, he said. The whole of Europe manages waste in a similar way, he said, and noted that there is one such facility in the center of Vienna using recycled waste to produce and supply heat for a part of the city.

Vienna also has a waste incinerator, a facility that produces electricity and heat from waste.

Bidding to select a contractor is planned for this year

The center will not pollute the environment or pose a problem for the people who live nearby, he said. It will be a modern facility, such as can be found throughout Europe, according to Antić.

A preliminary design for the center has already been completed, a location permit obtained and a feasibility study conducted, while an environmental permit should be ready in February and the main design in two to three months, according to him.

He expects that a construction permit will be issued very soon, and that bids to select the contractor will be invited this year. Part of the project, he said, is located two kilometers from the center of Brčko on the banks of the Sava.

Waste from Brčko will be taken to Zvornik

The procedure for closing the landfill should start at the beginning of March, Antić said.

Given that the landfill will be closed, waste from the Brčko District will be taken to the regional landfill in Zvornik, for which a contract was recently signed, according to him.

Over the past few weeks, several cities across the region have unveiled their own waste management plans or options they are considering. The Croatian capital Zagreb, for example, has presented a new waste management plan, which envisages producing fuel from waste, while the coastal city of Šibenik has said it intends to build an incinerator.

In Serbia, the municipalities of Vrnjačka Banja and Trstenik and the City of Kraljevo are considering waste-to-energy technologies. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the municipality of Prozor-Rama has said it is the only municipality in the country that sorts all collected waste, but that it has a problem with the type of waste that can only be utilized in a waste-to-energy plant.